The Bywater Pool was a pond located in the eastern corner of the Westfarthing in the Shire, just north of the town of Bywater. The main river of the Shire, the Water, flowed into its western end and exited its eastern end. A stream from the Northfarthing (which may have been the Norbourn) entered Bywater Pool on its northern side.[1]

Before the War of the Ring, Bywater Pool had had a pleasant row of old Hobbit holes in the north bank, with little gardens that had run down to the water’s edge. Along the Pool-side where the Hobbiton Road ran close to the south bank there had grown an avenue of trees. On November 2, 3019, when the Travellers arrived at Bywater, they found the holes in the north bank deserted, their gardens filled with weeds, and the avenue of trees gone – replaced by a line of ugly new houses.[2]